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MEASUREMENTS AND SIMULATION FOR POWER QUALITY OF A WIND FARM 1

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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

Research Article

MEASUREMENTS AND SIMULATION FOR POWER QUALITY OF A WIND

FARM
1
S.P. Shukla, 2Sushil Kumar
Address for correspondence
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg, Chattisgarh (India)
sps_bit@rediffmail.com
2
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Bhilai Institute of Technology, Durg, Chattisgarh
sk1_bit@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT

This work investigates the impact of windfarm on the distribution network power quality. The quality of wind
power is decided by IEEE Standard 519-1992 and IEEE Standard 1547. The experiments were carried out at the
Vankuswade wind power project, Satara, (M.S.), India. The results are then compared by MATLAB simulation
software (Version R2008a). The system is also simulated for system stability considering various faults on the
simulated model. The field measurement results give important indications about the real effects of the integration
of large interruptible renewable energy sources within the power system. The simulation results show an agreement
with the measured response.
KEY WORDS Wind power, Power Quality, Voltage Sag, Voltage Swell, Stability.

INTRODUCTION

Wind power generation has experienced a vicinity of a wind turbine at low voltage
very fast development worldwide mainly due levels, and (ii) the interaction of wind farm
to environmental reasons. As the wind power with the power system at the point of common
penetration into the grid is increasing quickly, coupling with the grid at medium voltage
8
the influence of wind turbines on the power level (Fig.1) . Slow voltage variations,
1,2, 11
quality is becoming an important issue . flicker, voltage sags, transients and harmonics
The generation of wind power occurs with the are measured by means of a modern digital
operation of multiple wind turbines in measurement system. Important measuremed
windfarms. The integration of these wind results are discussed. Then a wind farm
parks into the power system may cause power consisting of Doubly Fed Induction
quality concerns. The important issue is how Generators connected to the distribution
much the power quality will be affected by network is simulated for various normal and
power production and connection of WTs to abnormal conditions.
the grid. The purpose of this work is (i) to The two results are then analyzed.
analyze the power quality in the electrical

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Fig. 1. Wind turbine with DFIG.

Wind Farm Site Description reactive power drawn from the grid.
Measurements are carried out at Asia’s largest Capacitors are not provided on H.V. side [2].
wind farm installed at The site has good power availability with an
Vankusavade/Chalkewadi sites in Satara average wind speed above 5m/s. Each
district and Gudhepanchgani in Sangli district machine is active yaw and pitch regulated
of Maharashtra State (India). The wind with power/torque control capability.
electric- generator under study is Experiments are performed at a wind farm
BHEL/NORDEX make, 3-Phase, 415 Volt, sites to study the interaction of wind turbine
82/250 kW, 82/424 Amp, 8/6 Pole, 30/40 (induction type) generator with the utility grid.
Turbine RPM, 757/1008 Generator RPM, ∆- A DFIG has a wound rotor that is connected
connected asynchronous machine. The wind to the network through a pulse-width
turbine is horizontal axis and installed at 30m modulated IGBT frequency converter which
hub height. There are 8 nos. of machines controls the excitation system in order to
installed at the 2 MW demonstration wind decouple the mechanical and electrical rotor
power project of Maharashtra Energy frequency and to match the network and rotor
Development Agency (MEDA) at frequency (Fig. 1). The wind turbine rotor is
Chalkewadi. coupled to the generator through a gearbox
The generator is connected directly to the grid which adapts the two different speeds of rotor
through 0.415/11 and 11/33 kV step-up and generator. The control system usually
transformers as shown in Fig. 2. Three keeps the power factor to unity, but the
switching capacitor banks (two of 37.5 kVAR windfarm can also exchange reactive power
and one of 25 kVAR) are connected across the with the rest of the network.
generator (i.e. on L.V. side) to compensate the

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Fig. 2. Single line diagram of the test wind farm at Chalkewadi.

Power Quality Measurement Set-Up and measure from 1 to 600V.

Methodology • Three current probes LEM FLEX
When power quality measurements are RR3035, current ranges of 30/300/3000A,
performed on a system with wind production, bandwidth: 10 Hz to 50 kHz, Accuracy:
due to the presence of electronic devices and 1%.
frequency converters, the voltages and The measurement system was placed at the
currents are usually nonsinusoidal quantities. wind turbine terminal, between the generator
In this application the measurement system and the LV side of the step-up transformer
has to be carefully chosen and, in particular, it according to a 3-Φ, 3 wire star connection.
has to be composed by transducers with high Three channels have been connected to voltage
bandwidth, analog conditioning blocks, and current probes. The neutral has been
analog to digital converters a digital signal connected to common and has been the
processing and, a storage unit. reference for the three channels in order to
Low Voltage measurement system measure the phase-to-neutral voltages. A
The following hardware components have simplified diagram with only one phase is
been used: provided in Fig. 3. The measurement system
• Power monitoring instrument Dranetz permits measuring the currents and voltages
PX5, 8 channels, 4 voltage and 4 current, instantaneously. Parameters configured for the
256 samples/cycle, RMS Accuracy: ±0.1% measurement are: mean, maximum and
of Reading, ±0.05% Full Scale, over minimum, RMS voltage and current values each
7KHz bandwidth, measures flicker minute; mean, minimum and maximum active
according to IEC 61000-4-15, complies and reactive power and power factor each
with IEEE 1159, IEC 61000-4-30 Class A minute; total harmonic distortion and individual
and EN50160 [1,5]. harmonics calculated each minute; flicker
• Instrument voltage probes that can measurements, calculated as per IEC 61000-4-

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15, with Pst (short term) interval equal to 10
min., Plt (long term) interval equal to 2 hours.
Fig. 3. LV measurement set-up.
Medium Voltage measurement system
The following hardware components have been
used:
• Power monitoring instrument Dranetz PX5.
• One PEARSON ELECTRONICS VD-305A
capacitive voltage divider, nominal division
ratio 2000:1, Maximum Pulse Voltage: 300
kV, bandwidth: 30 Hz to 4 MHz.
• Current probes LEM FLEX.
In order to analyze the collective behavior of the
wind power plant the measurement system has
been placed at the point of common coupling
(PCC) with the grid according to a single phase
connection. A simplified connection diagram is
provided in Fig. 4.
Measurement Results and Discussion
Voltage waveforms analysis
The voltage waveform measured at
generator terminals is shown in Fig. 5. The THD
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3, 9
is equal to 2.77% . The harmonic emissions
are quite high, as the measurements have been
done between the generator and the l.v. side of
the transformer.
On the high voltage side of the transformer a
reduced harmonic distortion level it is expected
due to the damping features of the transformer.
Distortion levels are usually high in DFIG
turbines due to the frequency converter,
depending on the commutation frequency. The
distortion caused by the converter can be clearly
observed in Fig. 5.
Although harmonic distortion is an important
issue but due to the high switching frequencies,
the advanced control algorithms and the filtering
techniques used in the wind farm allows
reducing the distortion well down the maximum
the value tolerated by standards11.
 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology

390.7V whereas at no load has been about

401V.

Long-term Voltage Variation Analysis

The measured RMS voltage, under normal
operating conditions, excluding situations
Fig.5. Phase-to-neutral volt. at gen. arising from faults or voltage interruptions,
Terminals. during all observation intervals has been within
the range of ± 5% of the nominal voltage.
Voltage sags and swells
PQ analyzer was set to register transients when
thresholds values exceeded. Voltages below
95% and above 105% of the RMS nominal
Fig.6 Phase-to-neutral volt. at PCC.
value have been recorded. Fig. 8 shows voltage
Fig. 6 presents the voltage measured at the PCC
sag caused by the WT disconnection from the
between one phase and neutral, the THD is
grid due to excessive power production
equal to 0.93%. The low distortion is due to the
(overload condition).
combined smoothing effect due to the
During the measurement, 18 voltage sags were
aggregation of the generators. Compared with
registered at the generator terminal but no
maximum harmonic levels for the power system
voltage sags were recorded at the PCC.
specified by EN 50160, even though this
standard is not applicable to this context, these
values of THD are largely within the limits.
Voltage Variations with Power Produced
It has been observed a voltage variation at the
terminals of the generator depending on the
power generated. Fig. 7 shows the trend of the Fig.7 Voltage variation compared with power
active power and voltage RMS for a time period generated.
with high power production At full load the
phase-to-neutral voltage RMS has been about

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The measurements at the LV terminals of the

wind turbine showed that the flicker level (Pst)
is correlated with the active power produced by
the generator. In particular the flicker level
Fig. 8 Voltage sag at the generator terminal.
increases with the production and remain about
Flicker
constant even though the power changes as
The torque from a horizontal axis wind turbine
depicted in Figs. 9-10.
has a periodic component at the frequency at
which the blades pass the tower (1-2 Hz) caused
by a variation of the wind speed seen by the
blade. Such variation depends on the
combination of the tower shadow, wind shear
and turbulence. The torque fluctuations are
Fig.10. Flicker measured at the generator
directly translated into output power flicker as
terminal.
there is only a partial buffer between
mechanical input and electrical output. Fixed
speed wind turbine can cause high flicker
whereas variable speed one can limit the flicker
within reasonable values7. In the proposed
measurement campaign the Flicker has been
Fig.11. RMS voltage at the PCC.
analyzed at the LV connection of a single WT
and at the PCC of the wind farm.

Fig.12. Power generated one phase at the

PCC.
The flicker at the PCC depends on the power
fluctuations caused by all the turbines of the
wind farm are illustrated in Figs. 11-12.
Fig.9. Power generated by a single turbine.
Measures have revealed that the flicker

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increases as the power produced decrease. In CASE 1-

Fig. 11, part of this flicker effect could be TURBINE RESPONSE TO A CHANGE IN
imputable to the regulation action of the on-load WIND SPEED
tap changer (OLTC) installed in the substation Effect of wind speed variation is shown in fig
transformer as well as caused by switching 14a & b. It increases from 8m/s -20m/s in steps.
operations of start and stop of wind turbines. The generated power also increases, at t = 32
The results are in good agreement with other sec. when V = 15.5m/s PGenerated becomes 9MW
contributions related to measurements in similar i.e. rated capacity of the wind farm. A further
conditions3,4. increment in wind velocity causes voltage swell
Simulation of a Wind Farm Using DFIG of 2.5% at the generator terminals a swell of
Wind Turbines 0.25% at the converter terminals (Grid). Voltage
Model Description swells are eliminated by the pitching of the
A 9-MW wind farm consisting of six 1.5 MW blades. The pitch angle increases from 0 degree
wind turbines connected to a 25-kV distribution as soon as the wind speed crosses 15m/s i.e. the
system exports power to a 120-kV grid through speed for 1p.u. generation.
a 30-km, 25-kV feeder. A 2300V, 2-MVA plant
consisting of a motor load (1.68 MW induction
motor at 0.93 PF) and of a 200-kW resistive
load is connected on the same feeder at bus B25.
Both the wind turbine and the motor load have a
protection system monitoring voltage, current
(a)
and machine speed. The DC link voltage of the
DFIG is also monitored. 4, 6, 11
MATLAB Simulation and discussion of the
results
Following conditions were applied on the
MATLAB model:
(b)
1. Turbine response to a change in wind speed.
Fig. 14. (a) V, I , P& Q at Gen. Terminals,
2. Simulation for stability due to LG fault on
(b) VDC , Turbine and Wind speed & Pitch
the distribution system (25kV).
angle.
3. Simulation of a voltage sag on the system

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Fig. 4. MV measurement set-up.

Fig. 13 MATLAB model of DFIG connected to grid.

CASE 2- depicts a large drop in voltage and
SIMULATION FOR STABILITY DUE TO corresponding current. But the system regains
VARIOUS FAULTS ON THE 25-KV steady state without losing stability when the
SYSTEM fault is over. When the same fault was applied
The LG fault is applied on phase A at t=5sec. for 9 cycles, it was observed that the windfarm
for a duration of 5 cycles. Its effect on load gets tripped from the network and its
voltage and current is shown in Fig. 15, which contribution (P, V & I) becomes zero as shown

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in Fig. 16 a. This happens due to drop in CONCLUSIONS

generator terminal voltage below 0.9 p.u. Thus
the stability of the system is lost. When LLG
fault is applied at t = 37sec. for 5 cycles, the
generated power suddenly drops to 37% from
the rated value but comes back to steady state
when the fault is over as shown in Fig. 17a and
b. When LLLG fault is applied at t = 37sec. for
5 cycles , the windfarm trips immediately from
the network and does not regain the stability.
Case-3 Simulation of a voltage sag on the
system
Fig. 16 b depicts that effect of LG fault on
voltage sag is much severe at the generator
terminals (approx.30%), then less severe on the
medium voltage distribution network (approx.
10%) and least on the high voltage grid i.e. at
PCC (approx. 1%). During LLG and LLLG
fault similar behavior was obtained but with
deeper sag.
In this paper, the power quality of a large
windfarm at the low voltage level and at the
PCC with the HV grid is investigated. Flicker,
harmonics, and voltage sags have been analyzed
and correlated with wind characteristics of the
site. Then same were observed on a simulation
model. The simulated and the measured results
exhibit a good agreement. The investigation also
shows that the windfarm works without a
negative impact on the transmission network
when DFIG turbines are installed.
(a)

(b)
Fig. 16. ( a) V, I & P at Gen. Terminals (b)
Voltage at Generator, Distribution, Grid
Fig 15 .Load (500KW) Voltage and Current
terminals.
after a 5 cycle LG fault.

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4. P. Sorensen, A.D. Hansen and P.A.C. Rosas,

“Wind models for simulation of power
fluctuations from wind farms”, Journal of
wind Engineering and Industrial
Aerodynamics, Vol. 90,pp. 1381-
1402,December 2002.
5. IEEE Standard 1547: Interconnecting
Distributed Resources with Electric Power
(a) System, IEEE Standard 1547-2003, p.p. 1-5,
June 2003.
6. Yuriy Kazachkov and Steve Stapleton,
“Modelling Wind Farms for power system
stability studies” Power Technology,
Newsletter Issue 95, April 2004.
7. S.P.Shukla, B.S.Narang “Harmonics in wind
power systems” Applied science periodical,
Vol.IX, No. 2, pp129-133, May, 2007.
8. Trinh Trong Chuong, Dragan “Voltage
stability of grid investigation of grid
(b)
connected wind farm” PWASET, Vol. 32,
Fig. 17. (a) V, I & P at Gen. Terminals, (b) August, 2008.
Voltage at Generator, Distribution, Grid 9. S.P.Shukla et al “Transient Control
terminals. Techniques in Synchronous Wind Turbine
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